


sweater weather

by gilligankane



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 04:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11395743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilligankane/pseuds/gilligankane
Summary: “You need to sleep,” Nicole says. She’s calm and collected and Waverly almost doesn’t notice the way her voice trembles, just slightly. “Just come lay down with me?” She spreads her arms wide. “I’ll even be your bonus blanket,” she teases softly.





	sweater weather

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nowhere89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowhere89/gifts).



> So drsydneykatz was like, "Nicole is Waverly's bonus blanket" and I was like, "well, duh, of course she- FIC" and so this happened.
> 
> Follows canon through 2.4 with some liberties.
> 
> hmu on Tumblr (piratekane) with prompts.

Waverly creeps on her tiptoes across her room and waits at the door. Her long nightgown still drags behind her as she walks and she tries to be careful not to step on it. She holds her breath and listens carefully but all she can hear is the dim roar of the TV and Daddy snoring, even louder. She twists the knob to her door slowly and pulls it open carefully, stopping quickly before the hinge creaks. She steps over the threshold of the doorway, stepping out two steps so she doesn’t hit the loose floorboard in the hallway. Slowly, hugging the wall, Waverly slides down to Wynonna’s room. She pauses at the door and presses her ear against the wood. She can hear music playing and so she taps a fingernail against the door before she opens it and slides inside.

Wynonna sits up in bed and blinks owlishly at her, reaching for the alarm clock radio by her bed. She checks the time and frowns. “Baby girl, it’s three in the morning.”

Waverly ignores her and climbs onto the end of Wynonna’s bed. “I can’t sleep.”

Wynonna sighs again. “What did Willa say?”

Waverly picks at Wynonna’s comforter, letting her hair fall in a curtain around her face. She hears the bed creak as Wynonna shuffles around.

A hand lands on hers. “What did she say to you?”

Waverly sighs and pushes her hair out of her eyes. Wynonna is staring at her with soft eyes, waiting. She sighs again. “She told me there was a monster under my bed and he was waiting for me to go to sleep so he could eat my toes,” she breathes out.

Wynonna lets out a soft growl and hooks her hands under Waverly’s arms, pulling her across the length of the bed until they’re both at the headboard, settling against Wynonna’s pillows.

“I told her to knock it off,” Wynonna says.

“She told me I’m six now and I’m too big to be scared,” Waverly says. She leans her head into Wynonna’s shoulder.

Wynonna is quiet for a moment, twisting the ends of Waverly’s hair between her fingers. “Do you want to know a secret?” she asks quietly.

Waverly nods.

“Even big people are scared,” Wynonna tells her in her ear. “I’m 11 and I’m still scared of things. Everyone is.” She pauses. “Even Daddy.”

Waverly’s eyes widen and she shakes her head. “ _No_. Daddy isn’t scared of anything.”

Wynonna makes a noise Waverly doesn’t know how to describe; like a laugh stuck in her throat. “Sure he is. Why do you think he drinks all the time?”

“Willa says he’s the bravest man in the world,” Waverly says slowly.

“Who’re you going to listen to?” Wynonna asks. “Me? Or Willa?”

It’s a trick question. Waverly is always going to listen to Wynonna before she listens to Willa.  _Wynonna_  never made her climb to the top of the barn to keep a secret.  _Wynonna_  never tricked her into drinking a beer instead of apple juice and making Daddy mad. Wynonna always takes care of Waverly and Wynonna knows it. 

“So there’s no monsters?” Waverly asks, her voice small.

“Of course there are monsters. But none of them live under your bed,” Wynonna promises. “It smells under there.”

Waverly giggles a little before she gets quiet again. “Can I sleep with you?”

Wynonna wraps her arm around Waverly’s shoulders and shimmies down on the bed until Waverly is staring at the ceiling. She tucks her head into Wynonna’s side and twists until she’s got an arm across Wynonna’s stomach.

“Sleep, baby girl. I’ve got you.”

Waverly is quiet for a few minutes before she reaches down and grabs at Wynonna’s comforter, kicked down to the end of the bed. She grunts as she tries to pull it up over her. “I’m cold,” she whines.

Wynonna reaches down to the floor and pulls another blanket up over them. “Good?”

Waverly shakes her head. “No. I’m still cold.”

“How many blankets do you need?” Wynonna mutters, rolling out of bed and opening her closet, pulling out a third blanket. She pauses and looks back at Waverly.

Waverly smiles shyly.

Wynonna sighs and pulls a forth blanket out of the closet, layering each one on top of Waverly until Waverly grins and nods. She grumbles as she climbs under the covers, lifting each layer high to get underneath it.

“Four blankets,” Wynonna mumbles, finding Waverly’s hand under the covers.

“And a bonus blanket,” Waverly says, wrapping her arm around Wynonna’s waist against, curling in close.

Waverly falls asleep instantly.

 

-

Waverly is sitting outside of the school, kicking at a section of the crumbling foundation, when Curtis pulls up in his truck. She watches him tear across the pavement, loose dirt and gravel spewing from the back of the tires. He doesn’t bother shutting off the truck before he gets out, leaving the door wide open.

He comes to a stop in front of her. “Damnit, girl,” he whistles lowly. “You really put your foot in it, didn’t you?”

Waverly finally looks up at him, squinting through an eye she knows is already bruising. She doesn’t have the strength to be embarrassed or apologetic. She’s pretty sure when she stands up, she’ll fall over.

“The school called,” Curtis says, sitting down next to her. His legs stretch out twice the length of hers and she busies herself by doing the math, calculating the distance between the tips of her toes to the tips of his. “Wanna tell me what happened?”

“They already told you,” Waverly fires back, turning her head and staring out across the parking lot.

Curtis is quiet for a moment. “They told me their story. I’m askin’ yours.”

Waverly huffs. “It doesn’t matter, though. It never matters. We’re Earps and we’re town scum and we’re-“ She stops quickly when Curtis grabs her by the arms, his face in hers.

“Now you listen to me, Waverly Earp,” he says gruffly. “You are not scum. You are the smartest thing in this whole damn town. You hear me?” He shakes her once. “You hear me, girl?”

Waverly nods weakly.

Curtis’s grip loosens. “Now, if someone said something to you and you fought back, that ain’t right and you know it. But if someone hit you first, it’s self-defense.” He takes a deep breath. “I told that hotshot principal of yours that Waverly Earp has never even  _thought_  harm against someone, let alone physically hurt ‘em. So you tell me what happened and you tell me right now.”

Waverly feels something inside of her break. Her eyes burn and her cheeks are wet and Curtis is holding her so gently, scooping her up and carrying her to the truck. She cries the whole way back home - not the homestead, not for years now - and she doesn’t stop crying until she’s tucked into her bed and Curtis is holding a cup of fresh tomato soup in one hand and the TV clicker in the other.

“Move over,” he says gently. He drapes a blanket across her lap. He pauses when she shakes her head and pulls another blanket off the back of the couch. 

She sips from her bowl of soup and leans into Curtis while he flips channels, finally settling on  _Searchers_ , an old John Wayne movie Waverly knows he’s already seen a hundred times. He pulls a blanket up over his lap and Waverly wiggles her way under it, clinging to his arm tightly.

“I ain’t gonna be able to feel my arm,” he mutters, but lets her hold on tight anyway. She stares at the TV through one good eye and mouthes the words as she watches.

“ _You wanna quit, Ethan_?” Reverend Clayton asks.

“ _That’ll be the day,_ ” Ethan shoots back. 

Waverly wakes up when Gus comes home and Curtis hasn’t moved a muscle.

 

-

There’s pressure -  _so much pressure_  - and then Champ is grunting like he’s on a wrestling mat, growling her name. Her whole life has felt like it’s led up to this moment and when he’s finished, panting and sweating and heavy on her, it feels a lot like disappointment. He’s breathing heavy into her neck, his hips slick and sliding against her body and she wants to push him away. 

Instead, she lets his breathing return to normal and then molds her body to his when he rolls onto his back, one arm up and behind his head, grinning at the ceiling.

“That was the best moment of our lives,” he declares. “Wasn’t it?"

Waverly hums a noise that almost sounds like an agreement and Champ, stuck in his rose-colored bubble, doesn’t notice that she’s aching with tension and nowhere close to feeling as freed as he is. He sighs happily and sits up a little, popping his back. He grins at her and lays back down. It’s fall and there’s a slight chill in the air as the sun goes down and she’s naked. She curls into him again, content with at least being warmed by his body heat if she can’t have anything else.

He frowns and shifts. “Babe, I’m not going to be able to sleep with you hanging off me like that.” He slides a little towards the edge of the bed.

Waverly frowns back at him. “I’m cold.”

Champ shrugs. “So get a blanket.” He gestures towards his closet door, a picture of Jessica Alba in a bathing suit hanging there. Champ’s eyes flutter.

Waverly stares at him for a long moment but he keeps laying there with his eyes opening and closing as sleep starts to take him. 

 

-

She’s not 6-years-old anymore. She doesn’t need to tiptoe around the house, stepping over loose floorboards and shushing creaking hinges.

But Willa is back - back from the dead, back to life, just  _back -_ Waverly is in first grade all over again, hiding in the shadows from her big sister.

Waverly is 21 now, nearly 22, but she slips down the hall in socked feet and pauses at the door to Wynonna’s room, listening for sounds that her sister is awake. There’s a small crack of light bleeding into the hallway from underneath the door and if Waverly presses her ear to the wood, she can hear something that sounds like music. Taking a deep breath, she turns the knob slowly and pushes the door open, sliding in and closing it just as quickly. 

Wynonna is already sitting up crosslegged in bed, her phone blasting music Waverly doesn’t know. She looks up and gives Waverly a tired smile.

“Baby girl, it’s three in the morning,” Waverly says softly.

“I can’t sleep,” Waverly admits. She shrugs a shoulder.

Wynonna’s smile goes crooked for a moment before she leans back, straightening her legs. “What did Willa say?”

Waverly lets herself settle at the edge of Wynonna’s bed, picking at the comforter absently. She twists a thread pulling from the design around her finger until it gives, breaking off. When she looks up, Wynonna is looking at her carefully, her mouth poised like there’s something she wants to say, but can’t. Finally, Waverly sighs. “It’s like I’m a kid again,” she says quietly. “She just… has this power over me.”

Waverly thinks of the barn; of the slide of Nicole’s lips below her ear; of her hands ghosting their way across Nicole’s waist; of Nicole calling her ‘baby’ in a way that makes Waverly feel like she had the whole world right there at her fingertips.

And Willa had taken that away like she had taken away Waverly’s popsicle that afternoon, before she was taken. 

Wynonna slides to one side of the bed, patting the empty space. Waverly slides over the comforter and sits next to her sister, their shoulders pressed tightly together. She breathes in the normalcy of the moment before she remembers that this is new, too. Wynonna being home, Wynonna being her rock - this is all just slightly less-new as finding out Willa is suddenly alive. But Wynonna has always felt safe and that feeling doesn’t fade as she settles down in the mattress, leaning back against the insane number of pillows Wynonna sleeps with. She sees Wynonna’s phone go off and makes a face when she sees Dolls’ name on the screen. Wynonna turns the phone over and sticks it on her nightstand, turning to face Waverly.

“Agent Dolls, huh?” Waverly teases.

Wynonna raises an eyebrow. “Don’t start with me. I want to know about you.”

Waverly feels a tug of panic in her stomach. “What about me?” It’s not that she wants to hide Nicole away - it’s the opposite. She wants to lace her fingers in Nicole’s and storm into Shorty’s and give everyone a reason to finally be jealous of Waverly Earp. 

Wynonna shrugs. “You’ve been… sneaky, lately. Like when I was living with you, back between, uh, the Suttons and that Romanian family, and you were sneaking out with Champ when you thought everyone was asleep.”

Waverly flushes and picks at the comforter again. “It’s… I don’t know what it is yet,” she admits. She thinks about Nicole’s lips against her own, warm and reassuring and constant; about Nicole’s hand finding hers at the station, brushing quickly across her knuckles. It feels a lot like love, but it can’t be. It’s too early. It’s too soon. She’s too young to see the rest of her life plotted out like that.

“You don’t need to tell me,” Wynonna says quietly. “I just want you to be happy, baby girl.”

“I am,” Waverly says before she can stop herself. She opens her mouth and closes it again. “I just…” she starts. 

Wynonna studies her carefully, lifting a strand of hair off Waverly’s neck and behind her ear. “What did Willa say?” she asks quietly, like Waverly is made of glass.

Waverly thinks of Nicole’s hands, pressed gently against her rib cage; of Nicole’s mouth, twisted into a smile that Waverly feels low in her body; of Nicole’s breath across her eyelids as she kisses her forehead softly.

“It’s nothing,” Waverly says. “Monsters under the bed, that’s all.”

Wynonna waits a minute to see if Waverly is going to say anything else. But Waverly busies herself with pulling a blanket from the end up the bed up and over her waist. She lays back against a sea of pillows and looks up at Wynonna through suddenly-heavy eyes. Wynonna sighs and gives her a smile, leaning down and pulling the blanket up over her own body. She pauses when Waverly makes a small noise. “What?”

“Another one?” Waverly asks, her voice small.

Wynonna sighs and reaches to the floor, pulling a heavy wool blanket over the two of them. “Please say that’s good enough.”

Waverly nods and settles under the warmth of the blankets, giving Wynonna long enough to set an alarm on her phone, turn off the light, and settle down comfortably. Then she rolls and winds herself around Wynonna, a hand around her bicep and an arm across her waist. She feels the point of Wynonna’s shoulder against her cheekbone and it’s nothing like it was seventeen years ago when the biggest bump in the night was Daddy looking for a full bottle of whisky.

It’s not the same but Waverly’s monsters quiet just the same.

 

-

Waverly spends exactly fifteen minutes pretending she’s going to be able to sleep before she sighs and sits up in Nicole’s bed, kicking off the covers. Her head spins with unvoiced thoughts and she shivers instantly, pulling the sheet up and over her legs as she fishes for her phone on the nightstand.

“ _I can’t sleep_ ,” she types out.

Her phone beeps at her almost instantaneously. “ _Me either_.”

Waverly laughs softly. “ _I hope you’re not trying to sleep_.”

“ _I was until you text me_ ,” Nicole types back.

Waverly watches the three gray dots blink at her before they disappear. She frowns but a message pops up quickly. “ _Only 30 more minutes,_ ” it reads.

Waverly checks the time and frowns. “ _I thought you were working until 4_?” she types.

“ _Paid Hunter off with a few club sandwiches at Dot’s. He’s coming in at midnight_ ,” Nicole fires back.

Waverly grins and little and reaches for the nightstand, turning on the light. She jumps a little when she realizes Nicole’s cat, Banjo, is sitting on the end of the bed, staring at her. She softens and coos at the cat until it’s in her lap, purring and stretching her front paws. She texts with her free hand, clumsily hitting send. “ _I’ll wait up for you, then_ ,” she promises. 

They text back and forth until Nicole tells her she’s leaving the station and shouldn’t be too long. Waverly stretches across the bed and idly rubs Banjo’s belly, flipping through a book she’s been meaning to read but hasn’t started yet. She doesn’t startle when she hears the scrape of a key in the lock on the front door but Banjo lazily jumps down and stalks out of the bedroom and to the front door.

Waverly hears Nicole say hi to the cat and then the heavy sound of her boots on the carpeted apartment. Nicole pauses in the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb, a smile on her face. 

“You didn’t need to wait,” Nicole says.

Waverly shrugs and smiles widely. “Like I said, I couldn’t sleep.”

Nicole rolls her eyes. “The temperature barely even dropped.”

“It’s still freezing without you,” Waverly sings.

Nicole’s smile melts into something else -  a softness Waverly doesn’t think she will ever tired of. She peels off one boot and then the other, dropping them onto the carpet by the end of the bed. She stands there, backlit by the hallway lights and Waverly wonders if the soft halo above Nicole’s head has always been there or if Waverly is finally losing her mind. 

Slowly, Nicole unbuttons the few buttons she bothered with, pulling her uniform shirt off and dropping it to the floor next to her boots. Her fingers drift to her utility belt next and Waverly watches, her jaw loose as she tries to remember to breathe. They’ve been through so much in such a short amount of time but this is still new; this physicality, their sleepovers. Nicole unholsters her weapon first, opening the gun safe on her dresser and sliding the unloaded weapon in, tugging on the handle to make sure it locked. Then she turns back to Waverly and her utility belt drops to the floor, forgotten. Waverly feels her mouth go dry as Nicole pops a finger behind the button on her khakis, sliding the zipper down until they start to slip off Nicole’s hips.

When Nicole wiggles her hips and laughs, it breaks the tension and Waverly feels air push back into her lungs. She grins and beckons Nicole forward with one finger. Nicole kneels on the bed, her ribbed tank top tight across her chest and her underwear just an excuse for Waverly to see how long Nicole’s legs are. She smiles at Waverly and crawls forward, hovering above Waverly for a long moment before leaning down to kiss her softly.

“You’re exhausted,” Nicole breathes against her mouth.

Waverly slides a hand around the back of Nicole’s neck and guides her down until Nicole’s legs bracket her hips and Nicole is kneeling over her. “I’m not.”

“You’ve been up for forever.”

“Just as long as you,” Waverly fires back.

“Exactly.” Nicole kisses her again, her arms resting on Waverly’s shoulders. “I’m exhausted too.”

Waverly  _is_  exhausted, if exhausted is a strong enough word to explain the crushing tiredness that pushes at the back of her eyes. She feels like she hasn’t gotten sleep - real, restorative sleep - since Willa appeared on their doorstep and turned their world sideways. And there’s something gnawing at the back of her mind, too; a voice screaming ’ _something is wrong_ ’ that she doesn’t want to listen to.  

Moments, lost. Conversations, forgotten. Whole hours where she comes to in a different place than where she blacked out.

“Baby,” Nicole whispers. A slim finger hooks under her chin and tilts Waverly’s head up, their eyes locking. “Are you okay?”

A voice in her head - a hand squeezing tight around her heart - is telling her to just push up, kiss Nicole, shut her up. But Waverly shakes that voice away and meets Nicole’s eyes again and frowns. “I don’t know,” she admits. “I… Something is wrong.”

Nicole leans back a little, putting distance between them. Her hands stroke Waverly’s neck softly. “Tell me.”

' _Tell me_ ,’ she says, like she’s known all along. She thinks back to Nicole kissing her at the homestead, of Nicole’s finger drifting across her own lips, telling Waverly she  _tasted_  different. Maybe Nicole has known all along. It’s a relief to Waverly and everything she’s been holding back rushes out of her.

 _I’m losing time_ , she tells Nicole.

 _I can’t remember conversations and kisses_ , she says.

 _It’s like I close my eyes and open then hours later and I never know how I got where I am_ , she admits.

“I touched something,” she whispers, her eyes tracing the lines of Nicole’s collarbones.

That finger finds the bottom of her chin again and lifts until Waverly can only see the brown and gold flecks in Nicole’s eyes. “We will figure it out. Together. We’ll talk to Wynonna and that creepy bioengineer who is always staring at Doc’s behind.” She gives Waverly a crooked smile. “We’ll keep you safe.”

“I’m not worried about me,” Waverly breathes out. “I’m worried about you. And Wynonna.”

Nicole tips her head to one side. She stares at Waverly for a long moment before she sighs softly and kisses Waverly even softer. Waverly doesn’t realize Nicole is urging her to lay down until she feels the pillows against the back of her head. Nicole soothes a hand down Waverly’s arm, snagging the four blankets Waverly has claimed as her own. She slides now leg under the covers and lets her other rest on top of the comforters. Waverly shifts until she’s tucked against Nicole’s side and then she pulls a long arm across her body, wrapping herself around it. Nicole mouths at the crown of her head, pressing open-mouthed kisses there until Waverly feels her own body relax. 

“Sleep,” Nicole says quietly. “I’ll keep you warm.”

Waverly doesn’t remember closing her eyes.

 

-

“Wynonna is going to be fine,” Nicole says quietly.

Waverly doesn’t turn, her eyes focused out the open homestead window. She watches a wind sock wave in the winter breeze. She remembers tying that wind sock out there, when she was younger and Wynonna was chasing after her, teaching her how to hold a gun. Now Wynonna is tied to a bed in the barn, lost to the conscious world and Waverly is the reason why.

“Waves,” Nicole tries again. “Did you hear me?”

Waverly flinches when Nicole’s hand drops to her shoulder. She looks back this time. Nicole is holding her own hand to her chest, as if she burnt her fingertips brushing them against Waverly’s skin.

“Baby,” Nicole starts.

“She’s not fine,” Waverly says firmly. “I-“

“Didn’t do anything to her,” Nicole interjects. Her mouth is twisted in concern, her eyes soft.

It makes Waverly sick to her stomach.

“And you’re freezing. Let me get you a coat, okay?” Nicole is already shrugging off her own Sheriff’s Department issue jacket and stepping closer to Waverly.

“No,” Waverly says firmly, moving out of Nicole’s reach. She crosses her arms across her chest, barely registering the goosebumps under her fingertips. “I don’t want it.”

“You’re going to catch a cold,” Nicole says patiently.

“Good,” Waverly spits out. “Wynonna is… She’s  _dying_. I can handle a cold.”

“She’s not dying,” Nicole says calmly. Her voice wavers just a little.

Waverly scoffs and turns away from Nicole. “You don’t know what it feels like to have that… that  _thing_  inside of you. I felt like it was killing me from the inside out.”

Nicole stays quiet. 

“I was drowning,” Waverly admits, her voice tight and steady. She doesn’t look back; she doesn’t want to see the pity and the sadness and the understanding on Nicole’s face right now. Not when Wynonna is so close, but slipping out of reach with each passing second. “I was suffocating in my own body. You don’t… You have no idea what feels like.” She spares a glance back at Nicole this time and watches something flash across her face, but she doesn’t have time to chase it. She straightens her shoulders instead.

“You’re right,” Nicole says after a moment. “But standing in front of an open window on a -10° day isn’t going to help Wynonna.”

Nicole is right; she’s right and logical and Waverly is hurt and tired and feeling like she’s a scum-of-the-earth Earp again -  _maybe not an Earp_ , she thinks.  _Maybe just scum_  - and so logic slips out the window like the heat curling out of the furnace and Waverly slips to the side when Nicole tries to slip Waverly her coat once more.

“I said I don’t want it.” Her voice is low and angry and Nicole steps back. Not too much, but enough for Waverly to notice. It feels good, like she has some power back, and she stalks forward, her eyes hard and her hands clenched tight. “I don’t need a parent, I need someone who is going to help me figure out how to fix this. And if all you can do is try and take care of me, then I don’t want you here, either.” She bares her teeth a little and Nicole stumbles back a full step.

“You need to sleep,” Nicole says. She’s calm and collected and Waverly almost doesn’t notice the way her voice trembles, just slightly. “Just come lay down with me?” She spreads her arms wide. “I’ll even be your bonus blanket,” she teases softly.

Waverly growls and leans in, lowering her voice to a deep husk. “Go home, Nicole. Come back when you can be useful.”

She turns and marches out into the yard and the cold bites at her bare arms.

 

-

Waverly smoothes back a few flyaway hairs from Wynonna’s face, cooing something soft and light.

Wynonns grumbles in her sleep and twitches as Waverly’s fingers skate across her cheek. Waverly sighs and sits on the edge of the bed, watching Wynonna sleep off the past few days. Exorcising a demon who was very happy to find a place called ‘home’ was harder than any of them thought. She knows Wynonna is only alive because they all helped; Dolls and Docs and Jeremy and Nicole and even Rosita.

 _Nicole_ , Waverly thinks. She brushes the thought away. Nicole had stayed at the fringe of the last few days, being polite and professional and positively aggravating. She had backed off when Waverly seemed uncomfortable and always seemed to know what Waverly needed before she said anything out loud. She had calmed Dolls down when he spiraled out of control, talking to him in low, soothing tones while they readied his next dose. She had taken the whisky from Doc when he was about to fall over. She had even made Waverly sleepy time tea Waverly never drank and draped a few blankets over Waverly when she had finally passed out from exhaustion. Nicole had been everything Waverly had needed and everything she tried so hard to push away.

Wynonna twists in her sleep, grabbing at something that doesn’t exist. Waverly takes her hand instead and squeezes it gently, trying to ground Wynonna.

A few minutes later, Wynonna’s eyes flutter open. “Am I dead?” she rasps.

“Not anymore,” Waverly says in an exhale.

Wynonna’s lips twitch. “Damn. I thought this time it would stick.”

“Don’t you say that,” Waverly tells her. Her eyes burn and her throat is tight with unshed tears. “Don’t you ever say that.”

Wynonna pushes herself into a sitting position, pulling Waverly closer and tucking her face into Waverly’s hair. “Oh, baby girl. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

“You weren’t okay,” Waverly sobs. Tears are streaming down her cheeks now and she wipes at them clumsily. “You weren’t even close to okay.”

Wynonna hugs her tightly and when she lets go, she huffs. Waverly’s hands go to her side, feeling the bruised ribs gently. She reaches for the ice bucket she left on the floor and hands Wynonna an ice pack, helping her hold it to her side.

“I almost lost you,” Waverly breathes out.

“No you didn’t,” Wynonna argues.

Waverly shakes her head. “You don’t… You were…”

Wynonna grunts as she shifts. “I’m like head lice. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

Waverly blows a steady stream of hot air out of her mouth and tries not to choke on her tears. She twists until she’s sitting next to Wynonna on the bed, pulling Wynonna into her arms gently.

“Where’s the Scooby gang?” Wynonna asks after a moment.

Waverly wipes at her eyes and her nose. “Doc is at Shorty’s. He didn’t want to go back but the rodeo up North is this weekend and they’ve got a lot of people passing through. Dolls is hiding out in the barn. Lucado was by earlier.” She pushes some of Wynonna’s hair back.

Wynonna looks around the room, as much as she can see in Waverly’s hold. “Where’s Haughtsauce?”

Waverly stiffens a little but Wynonna catches it.

“Oh, baby girl. What did you do?”

Waverly clenches her jaw. “Why do you think I-“ She looks at Wynonna and her are soft and expectant and Waverly sighs. “Everything was happening so fast. You were slipping away and I couldn’t do anything and she… She was too perfect. She knew exactly what I needed. She fed me and she made me sleep and I was so mad at her because of all the things I needed,  _really_  needed, she couldn’t bring you back.”

Wynonna shifts and Waverly ends up in her arms. 

“I told her to leave,” Waverly whispers, horrified. She presses a hand to her mouth. “I told her to leave and she left.”

Wynonna strokes a firm hand through her hair. She keeps going for a few minutes, letting Waverly steady her breathing, before she opens her own mouth. “I’m alive. Even if the devil himself keeps trying to drag me to hell. Here I am. Chained to you, or whatever, Waverly Earp.” She pauses. “Just like Nicole is.” She kisses Waverly’s forehead. “I love you, baby girl. Which is why you need to get the hell out of my bed. All these blankets are makin’ me overheat. And we both know there’s someone else you’d rather be with.”

Waverly shakes her head. “I want to stay with-“

“I’ll be here,” Wynonna promises. “Go.” She pulls a blanket off the bed and hands it to Waverly. It’s forest green with golden lettering - University of Regina; Nicole’s blanket. “Bring this back to her, would you?”

 

-

“Coming!” Waverly hears Nicole yell through the door. There’s a long pause and Waverly can picture Nicole on the other side of the door, peering through the peep hole. Waverly raises her hand, about to knock again, but Nicole pulls the door open and they both pause, staring at each other. Waverly panics and thrusts the blanket forward. It spills from the ball she had it wrapped into but Nicole catches it anyway, holding it against her chest.

“Thanks,” Nicole says flatly. 

“I panicked,” Waverly spits out. “Everything was just… And I was…”

Nicole holds up a hand to slow her down. “I told you once before, Waverly. I’d never ask you to be someone you’re not.”

Waverly takes a deep breath. “I was an only child for so long. I mean, I felt like one. After Willa… And then Wynonna was in and out and sometimes she’d be gone for so long that I’d forget I even had another sister. A living sister. And when she… I just got her back, Nicole.”

Nicole nods. “I can’t imagine you having to lose her again.”

“But I can’t imagine losing you either,” Waverly breathes out. She pulls anxiously at the hem of her jacket.

Nicole is quiet for a moment before she sigh and gives Waverly a soft smile. “I’m not going anywhere. You just… You asked for space and I wanted to give that to you.”

“I’m not used to that,” Waverly admits.

Nicole frowns. “Not used to what?”

Waverly shrugs. “People giving me what I ask for.”

Nicole’s hand reaches for her, brushing across her cheek. “That’s all I want for you.” She clears her throat. “And I can’t promise I won’t ever get… ticked off. Or annoyed. Or a…” She scoffs. “God, I can be a hothead. But I’ll try,” she promises.

“I’ll try too,” Waverly promises. She snorts after a moment. “ _Haughthead_.”

Nicole rolls her eyes and uses her free hand to tuck her fingers into Waverly’s jacket pocket, tugging her across the threshold. She kissed Waverly hard, dropping the blanket to the ground and letting her arms wrap loosely around Waverly’s waist.

“How’s Wynonna?” Nicole asks between kisses. She’s backing Waverly through the apartment, bumping into the walls and the couch and the coffee table. Waverly laughs and holds on tighter, Nicole’s mouth trailing down her neck.

“Awake. Alive,” Waverly huffs out. “Not up for discussion right now.”

Nicole grins and turns, letting Waverly fall backwards onto the bed. Waverly pushes up on her elbows and her eyelids are heavy but she’s going to take this moment hold onto it forever. 

“You’re tired,” Nicole says softly.

“Am not,” Waverly murmurs. 

Nicole laughs softly and crawls over Waverly, nudging her back up onto the bed. She pulls of Waverly’s winter boots one at a time, then unzips her jacket. She lets Waverly wiggle out of it and then throws it into the corner of her bedroom. She pops the button on Waverly’s jeans and shimmies them down her legs before tossing them near the coat. Nicole climbs over Waverly, settling on the bed and pulling Waverly into her arms.

“Oh, sorry. Blankets,” Nicole breathes out, moving to sit up and get one.

Waverly shakes her head and holds onto Nicole tightly, pulling her back down so she can settle her head against Nicole’s chest. “No,” she murmurs. “You can be my blanket.”

Nicole pauses for a moment before she nods and presses a kiss to Waverly’s forehead. “Cold?” she asks in a whisper.

Waverly hums a  _no_  under her breath, tightens her grip on Nicole, and falls asleep instantly.


End file.
